Fantastic Planet (1973)

Fantastic Planet (1973)

Director: Rene Laloux

Fantastic Planet (Le Planete Sauvage) has been my favorite animated film since forever, for many reasons, but primarily because it’s an amazing film experience in every sense of the word; it’s not only a visual feast, but also a feast for the mind. If you guys know anything about me, then you know I have a soft spot for Subversive Cinema. These are films that are about ‘the people’ fighting ‘the system’, people fighting the good fight; which is one of the many reasons why I love Fantastic Planet, it’s all about the rebels versus the oppressors. The Draags vs. the Oms, will they ever learn to live in peace?  

On Fantastic Planet we meet two races; on the one hand we have the Draags, which are these gigantic beings with blue skin and red eyes. They are the ruling class on planet Ygam. They are the elite, also known as those in power or the “high class”. Then we have the Oms, which are basically humans, but in comparison to the Draags, the Oms  are minuscule in size. Humans are like little rodents to Draags and in some instances, they function as their pets. Basically Oms are these wild, uneducated creatures that amuse the Draags, but also seem like pests to them. Yet Oms, aren’t complete idiots, they have the capacity to learn, they have potential within them. Which is probably why  the Draags would rather have them completely eradicated from the planet. The Draags fear that the Oms might one day get smart and overtake Planet Ygam. Will the Oms ever rise and rebel? Or will the Draags succeed in erradecating them from the planets surface?

Fantastic Planet comes to us from Rene Laloux, the director behind two other animated gems: Time Masters (1982) and Gandahar (1987). If you end up enjoying Fantastic Planet, I recommend checking out the aforementioned films as well. The best of the bunch is Fantastic Planet, but trust me; Time Masters and Gandahar are also worth the watch. But anyways, Fantastic Planet deals with themes that are familiar to all of Laloux films, the fight versus ‘the system’. Why are the people oppressed? Should they rebel? Also, it addresses classicist issues. Why do some humans consider themselves superior to others? Why must this barrier exist? To the casual viewer, this movie might just seem like a 'trippy' film (which it is) yet if we take a deeper look, we can see that Fantastic Planet is all about the fight to educate the masses, to give freedom to a population that is enslaved both physically and mentally. Interesting how this film was made more than four decades ago yet its themes are more relevant now than ever. People are still being oppressed, there are still governments that step on its people; education is still being taken away from the working class. I mean, really, most of us can’t pay a hundred thousand dollars a year to go to college. And who wants such a huge debt on their backs when they get out of college? Truth of the matter is that education is available only to those who can pay it, the high class, the rich, the rest can go to community college or get a job at McDonalds, working for the man, which is the way the man likes it. But what happens when the masses wake up?

Fantastic Planet is all about knowledge, education and the importance of acquiring it in order to thrive in the world. You see, the Oms in this film are born ignorant, wild. The ones with the education and the knowledge are the all powerful Draggs who use these rings they place on their heads to educate themselves. The interesting part of this film comes when one of the Oms called ‘Terr’ steals one of the knowledge rings from the Draggs and begins to educate himself. Soon he grows up into a knowledgeable young man, and starts educating the rest of the Oms who live in the wild. He soon begins to organize a revolution. This is the Draags biggest fear, that the Oms will organize, grow smart and revolt; which is basically the same fear that governments of the world have of their people. That they might one day grow a brain, wise up and realize that they've been taken for fools. Education in the world could be made more accessible, more affordable and it should be so much better than what it is. Young people should not be taken for granted, they should be taught to believe that they have the ability to achieve anything they want, because they can. Because anything we can think of can be achieved. But no, instead, books are banned, schools are closed, tuition prices are raised to prohibitive prices and funds for education are either stolen or diverted, or both. Educating ourselves is turned into an uphill battle. I speak of my country, but I know this holds true for other parts of the world as well.

This is why college students revolt and fight back, and that is why police officers are brought in to pacify them, because they are wising up, they are growing a brain, they know things shouldn't be this way. So there lies the conflict, and this is primarily what Fantastic Planet is all about. It goes through all the processes and situations that a rebel cause will go through and face. It demonstrates that feeling of being stepped on by those in power. This might make this movie sound boring to some of you out there, but trust me it is not. Rene Laloux and graphic designer/writer Roland Topor make sure that this film is never boring, not for a second. The planet of Ygam is an amazing place to visit. It is populated with the craziest looking creatures, the most outlandish landscapes, trust me you won’t want to take your eyes off the screen. Yes, this film can be categorized under the ‘trippy/visual films’ banner, it is after all a visual wonder. The artistry and the designs involved in this production warrant a watch, trust me, you won’t be disappointed. Fantastic Planetis an incredibly unique experience;  you haven’t seen anything like it. It still remains, after all these years, my favorite animated film of all time.  Now go watch it!

Rating: 5 out of 5    

  

Time Masters (1982)

Title: Les Maitres Du Temps (a.k.a. Time Masters) (1982)

Director: Rene Laloux

Review:

In the vast world of animation, there is a small corner reserved for what is commonly referred to as ‘adult animation’. This term refers to animation films that aren’t about talking animals having to learn to believe in themselves or follow their dreams - nobel themes, but let’s face it, they’ve been done to death in children’s films. Nope, adult animation films are films that play with complex and adult themes, noted for experimental and sophisticated storytelling techniques. Certainly more complex and adult than anything you’d find in your regular Disney/Pixar films. In the case of ‘Les Maitres Du Temps’ (French for Time Masters) the film plays with themes of religion, despotism and the importance of what we choose to teach our children. Definitely not the kind of themes you’d find in animated films made in the United States. Hollywood can’t seem to disassociate animation from children’s films. They seem to think animation is only good for making films like Ice Age or Toy Story. I’m not bashing the validity and entertainment value of these children’s films, I’m just saying, animation films could be so much more! Animation films can go so much further in terms of the themes they can explore especially when you take in consideration that animated films don’t have to spend as much as a live film does. Imagination is truly the limit with these films. Only a few animators have taken a stab at producing animated films for adults in the United States, and I'll get into those later. The validity of adult animation is something that the rest of the world has known for a long time, for example, Japanese animation films have broken these boundaries by producing animation films for both children and adults equally. As you’ll see on my review for Time Masters, the French have also explored the world of adult animated films as well. Americans need to wake up to the amazing possibilities of animation films and take them further! A fine example of what adult animation films are like is Rene Laloux Time Masters.

Piel and his father, stranded on Planet Perdide

   

Time Masters tells the story of Piel a little boy who finds himself marooned and alone in a strange planet called Perdide. You see, Piel was with his parents driving around Perdide when suddenly they were attacked by a horde of giant killer hornets. The mother is killed by the creatures while Piel and his father manage to escape them! Unfortunately, their vehicle crashes and Piel’s father dies in the accident. Now, Piel, a little boy of no more then 8 years old finds himself completely alone in a planet filled with dangerous animal and plant life! Good news is that before he died, Piel’s father left him a communication device that allows Piel instant contact with Jaffar, an adventurer who was a close friend of his father. When Jaffar realizes Piel’s situation, he immediately decides to change course and head for Perdide to rescue Piel. Through out the whole ordeal, Jaffar manages to maintain constant communication with Piel thanks to the communication device his father left him. Through the little microphone, Jaffar tries his best to guide Piel through the strange planet so he won’t get into any trouble before he arrives. Will Piel manage to avoid the dangers of Planet Perdide?

Planet Perdide presents little Piel with many dangers!

This is what I love about adult animation: they are rich in themes and unafraid to explore challenging subject manner. Sadly, these type of adult oriented animated films are a rare commodity in the world we live in because they are not easy to market. The problem is that 95% of adults out there instantly associate any animated film with a children’s films. So whenever these films were released in theaters, they’d have a hard time finding their target audience. Thankfully, animators from around the world have always been making efforts to destroy these stigmas associated with animation films. One of the very first to do this in the United States was Ralph Bakshi; an artist and animator who has always tried to demonstrate that animation doesn’t exist solely for children. One look at Fritz the Cat (1972) and it’s clear. This was a film that was accused of being pornographic! It was the first animated film to receive an X rating! Yet it was the highest grossing independent animated film of its time. In Bakshi’s animated films characters had sex, did drugs and listened to rock and roll. He continued this all through out his career with films like Heavy Traffic (1973), Coonskin (1975) a film that heavily criticized racism and racist stereotypes (yet was accused of being racist!) and Hey Good Lookin (1982). To avoid further controversy, Bakshi would take things in a different direction by diving into the world of fantasy with films like Wizards (1977), his own adaptation of Lord of the Rings (1978) and an awesome homage to Robert E. Howard’s Conan novels called Fire and Ice (1983). Point is there’s always been animators out there trying to break this barrier, trying to destroy this stigma that has always existed with animation films. Another filmmaker that we can add to this roster was Rene Laloux.

The film was conceptualized by 'Moebius' 

First film I ever saw by Rene Laloux was Le Planet Sauvage (1973) a.k.a. Fantastic Planet, I was amazed by it. This film immediately got masterpiece status from this reviewer. If you ever want to know just how bizarre, different, otherworldly and profound animation can be, watch Fantastic Planet. It’s a story about a society divided between the working class and the powerful. It deals with philosophical themes pertaining society, and why it’s often times divided into factions. The working class is represented by a race of little midget creatures, while the powerful are giants that see them as pets, as a distraction. But what happens when the working class begins to develop a brain? When they begin to desire education, and something more out of life? Deep themes are explored on this film to be sure, but Fantastic Planet succeeds on a whole other level as well: its visuals! The different races look so completely bizarre, so outlandish…it’s a delight simply to look at this film, highly recommend it to those who have never experienced it. In many ways, it’s a very subversive film that shows the importance of education as a means to freedom. After watching Fantastic Planet and Time Masters it became obvious to me that Rene Laloux always aimed his guns at themes that trouble society. Even Gandahar (1987) a.k.a. Light Years, the last film he directed before his death in 2004, deals with themes of oppression against society and the need we all have to be free. So Laloux was a very socially conscious filmmaker who had chosen animation as his weapon of choice.

Everyone gets a chance to guide Piel

In Time Masters, everyone on Jaffar’s ship manages to talk to Piel at some point, and everybody gives him different kinds of advice. This to me was a key premise in the film and its themes; it shows how adults are the ones responsible for how a child’s life is going to go during those formative years. And it’s the adult’s responsibility to guide the child, and send him off on the best course of life that they can. Sadly, this doesn’t always happen because not all parents or adults are reliable. Some will have downright evil plans for a child, some are totally uncaring towards their children’s course in life and will send a child down a dark and dangerous path. This happens to Piel in the film, when he gets some bad advice from someone who wants him dead. So the film comments on the responsibility adults have with children, on how our teachings, our words, can send a child on the proper path, or not. Ultimately, we all end up alone in this world, and then it’s up to ourselves to choose our path in life, but until then, parents are like God to a child. I found it so interesting how the film got me to care about Piel, the little kid on the alien planet. I mean, he comes off as so innocent, so vulnerable and the planet so dangerous and hungry. So the film deserves Kudos for managing that alone in my book!

Speaking of God, the film also addresses religion. On his way towards the Planet Perdide, Jafaar and crew encounter a planet called Gamma 10 on which a race of faceless angels worship a tentacled creature. The creatures intent is to make everyone a faceless angel, each one the same as the other. No one is unique, or special, or different. All have to be transformed or turned into the same faceless drones. Aside from commenting on religion, this part of the film also speaks about how some governments have an obsession with eliminating art, culture and individuality from society. This is a theme that is addressed in many films about Totalitarian Futures, so Time Masters also comments on the evils of an oppressive government. In fact, at one point the adventurers actually encounter government soldiers who search their ship and steal their treasure. Demonstrating once again what governments really care about: making their money.

Soldiers of the Government search Jaffar's ship

The film was designed in part by Jean Giraud (a.k.a. Moebius) one of my own personal heroes. Moebius is such an amazing illustrator that it’s hard not to fall in love with the work he has done, and continues to do to this day. He’s worked on a huge number of films and for the best filmmakers, who all recognize the greatness in Moebius’s work. He has worked on the designs for films such as Alien (1979), Blade Runner (1982) and The Fifth Element (1997) to mention but a few. That plus, he has published many graphic novels and comic books across the years, all with some truly exquisite art. On Time Masters he designed the creatures and spaceships, which as you can see on some of the pics I’ve posted, are all amazing. The animation in Time Masters is good for its time, similar to the animation we can find in films like Heavy Metal (1981) by the way, Heavy Metal is another fine example of Adult Animation done right. These animators pushed animation as far as they could both technically and thematically.  I would have loved to see what kind of visuals Laloux would have conjured up with today’s technology and animation techniques. When compared to today’s animation, the animation on Time Masters feels crude, yet the creativity and uniqueness of the ideas overshadow any technical shortcomings the film might have. I mean, on this film we even encounter these cute little creatures that can read thoughts! They are called Yula and Jad, they become observers of human behavior through out the whole film. I love how they refer to evil thoughts as “foul smelling”. So in terms of design, ideas and creativity Time Masters gets high marks from me.

These little creatures can read your thoughts!

Time Masters isn’t a perfect film. The animation on Fantastic Planet is far superior, I am guessing that this has to do with the fact that Time Masters was initially being developed as a television show, and Laloux, realizing he had enough material for a feature film transformed the project into a feature film. This is probably the reason why the animation isnt as perfect as it was in Fantastic Planet. It could also be the reason why there is little nudity or violence in it. The ending is too abrupt; it felt rushed, as if they didn’t finish the story properly. But overall, the creativity and the themes on Time Masters makes it well worth the watch.

Rating: 4 out of 5